Client portal

ABSTRACT

A client portal that is optimized to fulfill a specific function. The portal can include a browser that is dedicated to performing a particular task, such as reviewing and purchasing electronic books. For example, to better perform the specific function, the browser may only be able to directly access sites designated by an authorized party, e.g., the browser&#39;s publisher. Because the browser is dedicated to performing a single task, the user interface for operating the dedicated browser may be simplified to include only those controls useful for performing the assigned task. Also, the content available for access by the client portal can be controlled by a single authorized party, such as the portal&#39;s publisher or distributor.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The invention relates to a client portal optimized for fulfillinga specific function. More particularly, the invention is directed to aclient portal for facilitating the performance of a specific task, suchas purchasing a particular type of item or service (e.g., eBooks). Theinvention may be implemented, for example, by a browser or otherapplication that is dedicated to performing a single task and whichemploys a user interface that is simplified to only those controlsuseful for performing the assigned task.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Early in their evolution, computers employed operating systemssuch as MS-DOS® that used command line interfaces. That is, a usercontrolled these operating systems by typing specific commands on acommand line. Similarly, the application programs that ran on theseearly computers used command line interfaces. While these operatingsystems and applications were very powerful, they required a user toknow a number of different specialized commands in order to effectivelyoperate a computer. The complexity of these commands severely limitedthe number of people who could use a computer. Many people who did nothave the time or ability to learn the necessary commands were unable tooperate these computers, or at least unable to operate them effectively.

[0003] As computers evolved, software developers created both operatingsystems and applications that were simpler to learn and use. Forexample, the Windows® operating system provided graphical userinterfaces instead of command line interfaces. This allowed users tooperate a computer simply by moving or activating icons. Also, insteadof having to remember a specific command, a user could now activate amenu that would list all of the available commands. The user could thenactivate the desired command by, for example, moving a displayed cursorto the listing of that command and pressing an activation button(sometimes referred to as “clicking on” the command).

[0004] The Windows® operating system had a dramatic effect on the use ofcomputers around the globe. Rather than having to learn a detailed listof user commands, a user could now employ almost any softwareapplication with only a rudimentary knowledge of that application andits underlying operating system. This revolution has opened the use ofcomputers to a wide segment of the population, from small children tooyoung to read to senior citizens. In turn, it has led to the exponentialand ubiquitous use of computers in all walks of society.

[0005] Similarly, the development of the hypertext markup language(HTML) has spurred the growth of an entirely new economy implementedover computer networks, such as the Internet. While the Internet hasexisted in one form or another for decades, it was difficult for theordinary person to navigate the Internet. Instead, a user typically hadto be skilled in telnet and the file transfer protocol (FTP) toconsistently obtain information over the Internet. With the advent ofHTML and the World Wide Web, users now routinely employ browsers (i.e.,software applications for retrieving and displaying markup languagepages from the Internet) to perform almost every type of commercialtransaction, including buying and reading books in electronic form.

[0006] This growth in the use of computers to conduct business over theInternet has created some problems, however. For example, in order toobtain content from the Internet, a user must employ a browser program,but these browser programs have become very complex. Part of the problemwith these browser programs is that they must offer a generalizedinterface in order to accomplish a variety of tasks and goals. In orderto perform this variety of tasks and goals, these browser programs mustbe complex, with a large number of commands and control options. Thus,many individuals still find this software difficult to use, and thesepeople have been cut off from the benefits provided by the new digitalmarketplace.

[0007] Further, as more and more information is accessible over theInternet, it becomes more and more difficult to isolate informationuseful for a particular purpose. For example, a number of companiesmaintain Web sites for selling electronic books over the Internet. If auser does not know the specific Internet address for one of these Websites, however, the user may have to employ a search engine to obtainone. Depending upon the user's search criteria, the search resultsproduced by the search engine may include only a few useful Web sites,if any at all. Alternately, the search results may include severaluseful Web sites, but list these useful Web sites among so many otherunrelated Web sites that the user must tediously parse through all ofthe results to identify those Web sites that are pertinent.

[0008] Moreover, once a user has located a useful Web site and wouldlike to make a purchase, the process of making the purchase may bedifficult or confusing for the user. For example, one merchant mayrequire the user to submit a great deal of information, such as theuser's age, education, occupation, email address, etc. Another merchant,on the other hand, may only require the user's credit card informationand the delivery address. Some merchants may accept electronic cash,while still other merchants may accept only charges to awell-established credit card account. Further, some merchants mayrequire a new user to set up a permanent account in order to make apurchase, while other merchants may allow a user to make a one-timepurchase. Still further, if the user has not made a previous purchasefrom the merchant, the user may be uncertain as to the honesty of themerchant or the quality of the merchant's goods. Also, even after a userhas located and accessed a useful Web site, the Web site may not haveits information organized in a convenient fashion. Some merchants mayprovide a detailed description and image of each product, while othermerchants may only give a list of its products, identifying each withonly a short reference.

[0009] The wide variety in the access, use and format of differentcommercial Web sites make it difficult for some user's to employmultiple sites. Instead, many users locate only a few sites that theyfeel comfortable navigating and purchasing from, and then limit theirfuture purchases to just those Web sites. Also, while some software formaking purchases over the Internet (e.g., browsers) allow a user to savethe Internet addresses of useful Web sites once they've been located,the addresses for these sites can be changed or deleted without updatingthe user's software. Thus, a user may be unable to identify a favoriteWeb site if its address is changed. Moreover, if a user is purchasingcontent for use with a software application, the user cannot do so in asingle step. Instead, the user must separately locate the relevantcontent, purchase the content, download the content, and then integratethe content with the application, each in a different operation.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0010] The various embodiments of the invention relate to a device formaking purchases over the Internet, i.e., a client portal, which isoptimized for fulfilling a specific function or performing a particulartask. For example, the client portal may be optimized for reviewing andpurchasing electronic books (hereafter referred to as eBooks). Toachieve this optimization, the client portal may have limited orspecific functionality. Thus, the client portal may only access sitesfrom a list of available sites preselected or maintained by anauthorized party, such as the portal's publisher. Still further, someembodiments of a client portal according to the invention may onlyaccess those sites that offer the product that the portal is optimizedto purchase (e.g., eBooks). Additionally, the portal may be implementedas part of an application (e.g., an eBook reader) such that the portalseamlessly retrieves content from a network and integrates the contentinto the application in a single operation.

[0011] Because the portal is dedicated to performing a specific task,the user interface for operating the dedicated portal may also besimplified to include only those controls useful for performing theassigned task. This interface simplification makes the dedicated clientportal easier to use for the assigned task than, e.g., a general-purposebrowser program. Further, dedicating the client portal to a specifictask allows the authorized party to maintain a degree of control overthe use of the portal, thereby permitting the authorized party to sellaccess through the client portal. Moreover, the authorized party canensure that the merchants that maintain the preselected sites presenttheir information in a consistent manner, so that the user can easilynavigate all of the preselected sites. For example, the authorized partycan ensure that all of the preselected sites selling eBooks organize thetitles of the eBooks into catalogs based upon, e.g., genre, time period,authors, etc. Further, the authorized party can ensure that all of themerchants that maintain preselected sites are reputable, and employconsistent financial transactions for the purchase of their products.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012]FIG. 1 schematically illustrates one possible computing device forimplementing various embodiments of the invention.

[0013]FIG. 2 shows a generic user interface for a conventional browser.

[0014]FIG. 3 schematically depicts a dedicated client portal accordingto one embodiment of the invention.

[0015]FIG. 4 shows a first user interface according to one embodiment ofthe invention.

[0016]FIG. 5 shows a second user interface according to one embodimentof the invention.

[0017]FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate catalog pages from a catalog forobtaining items for purchase according to embodiments of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0018] Devices for Implementing Various Embodiments of the Invention

[0019] Various embodiments of the invention can be implemented withcomputer systems, such as the exemplary computer system illustrated inFIG. 1. The system includes a general purpose computing device in theform of a conventional personal digital assistant, personal computer ornetwork server 120 or the like, including a processing unit 121, asystem memory 122, and a system bus 123 that couples various systemcomponents including the system memory 122 to the processing unit 121.The system bus 123 may be any of several types of bus structuresincluding a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and alocal bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. The system memoryincludes read-only memory (ROM) 124 and random access memory (RAM) 125.A basic input/output system 126 (BIOS), containing the basic routinesthat help to transfer information between elements within the personalcomputer 120, such as during startup, is stored in ROM 124.

[0020] The personal computer or network server 120 may further include ahard disk drive 127 for reading from and writing to a hard disk (notshown), a magnetic disk drive 128 for reading from or writing to aremovable magnetic disk 129, and an optical disk drive 130 for readingfrom or writing to a removable optical disk 131 such as a CD-ROM orother optical media. The hard disk drive 127, magnetic disk drive 128,and optical disk drive 130 are connected to the system bus 123 by a harddisk drive interface 132, a magnetic disk drive interface 133, and anoptical drive interface 134, respectively. The drives and theirassociated computer-readable media provide nonvolatile storage ofcomputer readable instructions, data structures, program modules andother data for the personal computer or network server 120. Although theexemplary environment described herein employs a hard disk, a removablemagnetic disk 129 and a removable optical disk 131, it should beappreciated by those skilled in the art that other types of computerreadable media which can store data that is accessible by a computer,such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital video disks,Bernoulli cartridges, random access memories (RAMs), read-only memories(ROMs) and the like may also be used in the exemplary operatingenvironment.

[0021] A number of program modules may be stored on the hard disk 127,magnetic disk 129, optical disk 131, ROM 124 or RAM 125, including anoperating system 135 (e.g., the Windows CE, Windows® 2000, Windows NT®,or Windows 95/98 operating system), one or more application programs 136(e.g. Word, Access, Pocket PC, Pocket Outlook, etc.), other programmodules 137 and program data 138. A user may enter commands andinformation into the personal computer 120 through input devices such asa keyboard 140 and pointing device 142. Other input devices (not shown)may include a microphone, joystick, game pad, satellite disk, scanner,touch pad, touch screen, or the like. These and other input devices areoften connected to the processing unit 121 through a serial portinterface 46 that is coupled to the system bus 123, but may be connectedby other interfaces, such as a parallel port, game port, universalserial bus (USB), or a 1394 high-speed serial port. A monitor 147 orother type of display device is also connected to the system bus 123 viaan interface, such as a video adapter 148. In addition to the monitor147, personal computers typically include other peripheral outputdevices (not shown), such as speakers and printers.

[0022] The personal digital assistant, personal computer or networkserver 120 may operate in a networked environment using logicalconnections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer149. The remote computer 149 may be another personal digital assistant,personal computer or network server, a router, a network PC, a peerdevice or other common network node, and typically includes many or allof the elements described above relative to the personal computer 120,although only a memory storage device 150 has been illustrated inFIG. 1. For example, a personal digital assistant using a Windows CEoperating system can operate as a standalone computer, or as a connectedextension of a personal computer. The logical connections depicted inFIG. 1 include a local area network (LAN) 151 and a wide area network(WAN) 152. Such networking environments are commonplace in offices,enterprise-wide computer networks, Intranets and the Internet.

[0023] When used in a LAN networking environment, the personal digitalassistant, personal computer or network server 120 is connected to thelocal network 151 through a network interface or adapter 153. When usedin a WAN networking environment, the personal digital assistant,personal computer or network server 120 typically includes a modem 154or other means for establishing communications over the wide areanetwork 152, such as the Internet. The modem 154, which may be internalor external, is connected to the system bus 123 via the serial portinterface 146. In a networked environment, program modules depictedrelative to the personal digital assistant, personal computer or networkserver 120, or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memorystorage device 150. It will be appreciated that the network connectionsshown are exemplary and other means of establishing a communicationslink between the computers may be used.

[0024] Conventional Browsers

[0025] As is well known in the art, a browser is a software program thatcan be implemented on a computer system that allows a user to view (or“browse”) documents written in the hypertext markup language (HTML), aswell as other files and software related to those HTML documents. Whilebrowsers are typically used to access Web pages over the Internet (i.e.,HTML documents residing on computer servers using the Hypertext TransferProtocol), those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate thatbrowsers can also be used to browse information from other sources, suchas other networks, an intranet, or the local hard drive. Conventionalbrowsers are also typically capable of downloading files, transferringfiles, displaying graphic images embedded in a HTML document, andexecuting programs such as Java™ applets or ActiveX® controls.Accordingly, browsers are often used to purchase goods or services overthe Internet. For example, a user may use a browser both to select anitem for purchase from a Web page provided by merchant, and then toprovide credit card information to the merchant to complete thepurchase.

[0026]FIG. 2 shows a generic user interface 201 for a conventionalbrowser. As seen in this figure, the browser interface 201 includes afirst task bar 202 with a number of command buttons 203-208 entitled“File,” “Edit,” “View,” “Go,” “Favorites,” and “Help,” respectively. Theinterface 201 also includes a second task bar 409 with still morecommand buttons 210-218, entitled “Back,” “Forward,” “Stop,” “Refresh,”“Home,” “Search,” “Favorites,” “Print,” and “Mail,” respectively, and athird task bar 219, with command buttons 220-224 entitled “News,”“Sports,” “Weather,” “Money,” and “Food,” respectively. These commandsallow the browser to perform a variety of functions. For example,activating the “Edit” command button 204 may produce a command menu thatincludes commands allowing a user to cut text or images from a document,paste text or images to a document, delete text or images from adocument, or select text or images in a document for any of theseprocedures. Similarly, activating the “Favorites” command button 216will provide the user with a list of Universal Resource Locator (URL)addresses for previously selected Web sites. Activating the “Home”command button 222 might cause the browser to retrieve and display apreselected Web page that the user has designated as a default page.

[0027] The browser interface 201 also has a display portion 225 fordisplaying retrieved documents, and an address line 226. The addressline 226 allows a user to enter the URL address of a HTML document(hereafter referred to as a page or Web page for convenience only) to beretrieved by the browser. As is known in the art, the URL defines arequest for a specific page, document or file stored on a servercomputer in the network. The browser then sends this request to a routerfor the network, which uses the URL address to pass the request onto theappropriate server computer with the desired page, object or file. Whilethe address line allows a user to retrieve any accessible Web page, ifthe user mistypes the URL then the browser may retrieve an incorrectpage or fail to retrieve a page altogether.

[0028] A Client Portal According to One Embodiment of the Invention

[0029]FIG. 3 schematically depicts a dedicated client portal 301according to one embodiment of the invention. As seen in this figure,the client portal 301 includes a set of operating functions 302 and amemory 303. The client portal 301 provides access to obtain and conveyinformation over a network such as the Internet. In order to providethis access, the operating functions 302 may include many of thefunctions typically associated with a conventional browser. For example,the operating functions 302 may include all of the functions necessaryto operate a browser as known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Theoperating functions 302 for this particular embodiment of the inventionalso preferably include objects to provide at least two user interfaces,interface 304 and interface 305. Each of these interfaces will bediscussed in greater detail below.

[0030] The embodiment of the client portal 301 illustrated in FIG. 3 isspecifically for the sale and subsequent viewing of eBooks. Moreparticularly, the client portal 301 is an expression of a browser in arendering application for displaying eBooks. The portal memory 303 forthis particular embodiment of the invention preferably has at leastthree portions, entitled “Library 306,” “Bookstore 307,” and “Guidebook308.” Each of these portions also will be explained in greater detailbelow as well.

[0031] All of the various components of the client portal 301 may resideon a single memory medium for a local computer like that described abovewith reference to FIG. 1. Alternately, portions of the client portal 301may be divided among different memory media for a local computer (i.e.,it may be divided between RAM and ROM memories, between a hard drive anda RAM memory, etc.), or even among memory media for the local computerand memory media residing with a remote computer. For example, while theoperating functions 302 may reside on a local computer, the Bookstore307 portion of the portal memory 303 may reside on a remote computerconnected to the local computer via a network, such as the Internet.Similarly, the Library 306 and/or Guidebook 308 portions of the portalmemory 303 may also reside on a remote computer connected to the localcomputer via a network. Some embodiments of the invention may even havethe entire memory 303 located on a remote computer connected to thelocal computer via a network. Those of ordinary skill in the art willappreciate that a number of possible variations in the location of thecomponents of the portal 301 are possible.

[0032] Those of ordinary skill in the art will also appreciate that oneor more of the components of the portal 301 may be shared with orborrowed from other software programs. For example, because the clientportal 301 may perform many of the functions typically associated with aconventional browser, portions of the operating functions 302 may beshared with, or borrowed from, a browser program employed by the localcomputer, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer.

[0033] In order to streamline the operation of the client portal 301 andsimplify its use for consumers, the functions 302 of the client portalmay preferably be limited to only those necessary to perform a specifictask. For example, if the client portal 301 is configured to purchase aparticular type of goods or services (e.g., eBooks) over a network suchas the Internet, the client portal 301 may limit the user's access topoints on the network to only those that offer the particular type ofgoods or services for purchase. Further, the client portal 301 mayprovide the user with user interfaces that include only the commandsnecessary to examine and purchase that particular type of goods orservices.

[0034] The client portal 301 may also limit the user to the purchase ofgoods or services from particular vendors. This allows the publisher ordistributor of the client portal 301 to restrict the use of the portal301 to purchases from only those vendors that, e.g., are trustworthy,have an agreement with the publisher or distributor, etc. Thus, theclient portal 301 may be seen as a filter that filters out extraneousinformation for the user, thereby providing the user with only theinformation the user needs to purchase the particular type of goods orservices from particular vendors for which the client portal 301 hasbeen configured.

[0035] One exemplary embodiment of the client portal 301, as shown inFIG. 3, is for use as part of a reader for purchasing and subsequentlyreading eBooks, as previously mentioned. Accordingly, when a useractivates the client portal 301 according to this embodiment of theinvention, the operating functions 302 operate to provide the user withthe user interface 304, shown in FIG. 4. As seen in this figure, theuser interface 304 is much simpler than the user interface 201 for aconventional browser shown in FIG. 2. For example, the client portalinterface 304 shown in FIG. 4 only has three display areas. Display area401 displays the content retrieved by the client portal 301, displayarea 402 displays the title of the content retrieved by portal 301, anddisplay area 403 shows the “page number” of the content currently beingdisplayed in display area 401.

[0036] In addition, the operating functions 302 of the client portal 301may be configured in any way useful to provide features that facilitatethe particular use for the client portal 301. Thus, in theabove-described embodiment for reading and viewing eBooks, the operatingfunctions 302 may display the content retrieved by the client portal 301in a manner similar to that of actual paper books or catalogs. Forexample, the operating functions 302 may divide the retrieved contentinto individual page segments with corresponding page numbers. A usermay then skip to the next (or previous) sequential page segment byactivating the page turn command 408 (to be discussed below), instead ofhaving to scroll through the content as with a conventional browser.Further, the user may access a specific portion of the retrieved eBooksimply by referring to its page number.

[0037] The interface 304 includes a “Library” command button 404, whichinstructs the portal 301 to retrieve the contents of the Library 306portion of the memory 303. The Library 306 contains a listing of theeBooks and other content accessible to the portal 301 for viewing by theuser. For example, if the user has previously employed the portal todownload, e.g., Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, The Inferno by Dante, the KingJames Bible and the October, 2000 issue of Slate magazine, each of theseitems will be listed in the Library 306. This listing may be contained,for example, in an eBook page, a HTML page, a XML page or in a page ofany other suitable type of format for rendering content in the Library306 portion of the memory 303. For example, as is known in the art, onewell-known eBook format, commonly referred to as the “.lit” format, is avariant of the HTML format that has been converted to a binary listing.These content rendering formats, including the “.lit” format, will bewell known to those of ordinary skill in the art, and thus will not bediscussed here in further detail.

[0038] Accordingly, when the user activates the “Library” command button404, the client portal 301 retrieves and displays the page of contentlisting each of these items. This content page (not shown) may alsopreferably contain a link to each listed item, so that the user canretrieve a desired item for viewing simply by activating the link. Itshould be noted that an item listed in the Library 306 portion of thememory 303 may represent content that has actually been downloaded bythe client portal 301 for viewing. With some embodiments of theinvention, an item may alternately represent content for which theclient portal 301 has only obtained the information (e.g., passwordinformation) necessary to download the content in the future.

[0039] Like the “Library” command button 404, the “Bookstore” commandbutton 405 causes the portal 301 to retrieve the contents of theBookstore 307 portion of the memory 303. The Bookstore 307 portion ofthe memory 303 contains a listing of the locations (e.g., Web pages orWeb sites) accessible to the client portal 301 for obtaining newcontent. This listing may be, for example, a set of Web sites displayedin the eBook page 409 as shown in FIG. 4. Accordingly, when the useractivates the “Bookstore” command button 405, the portal 301 retrievesthe eBook page 409 listing each of the accessible Web pages or Websites. Each listing on this eBook page 409 may also preferably be a linkto the listed Web page or site, so that the user can instruct the portal301 to access and display a desired page or site for viewing simply byactivating the listing of the site on the eBook page 409.

[0040] The “Guidebook” command button 406 causes the client portal 301to retrieve the contents of the Guidebook 308 portion of the memory 303.Preferably, the Guidebook 308 portion contains an instruction manualexplaining the operation of the client portal 301. The “Return” commandbutton 407 causes the client portal 301 to display the most recentlydisplayed content (i.e., the content displayed just prior to thecurrently displayed content.)

[0041] As previously noted, the user interface 304 also provides thepage up/down button 408, which is located in the display area 403. Thisbutton 408 advances the view of the content displayed in the displayarea 401 in page-sized increments, just as with a conventional paperbook. It should be noted that the use of page increments to viewrendered content, rather than using conventional scrolling, is morefamiliar to users who are accustomed to turning individual pages in abook or catalog. Thus, the use of consistently-sized page increments isyet another feature of some embodiments of the invention that serves tofacilitate commercial transactions over a communications network such asthe Internet.

[0042] In the example shown in FIG. 4, the display area 401 displays thefirst “page” of the contents of the Library 306, so the page up/downcommand button 408 appears as a single arrow in the display area 403. Ofcourse, as known to those of ordinary skill in the art, if the second orsubsequent “page” of the contents of the Library 306 were displayed,then the page up/down command button 408 would appear as two oppositelydirected arrows.

[0043] It should be noted that the client portal interface 304 does nothave an address line that would allow a user to type in a URL as with aconventional browser to access new content (i.e., content that has notbeen previously stored in the client portal's memory). Rather, aspreviously indicated, the user activates the “Bookstore” command buttonto retrieve the eBook or HTML page 409 listing the Web pages or sitesthat are accessible to the portal 301 for retrieving new content. Theparticular page 409 shown in FIG. 4 contains three site listings410-412. To access any of these Web pages or sites, the user simplyactivates the link to that site contained in its listing. This causesthe client portal 301 to send the URL for the listed page or site to arouter and onto the appropriate server to obtain that page or site.

[0044] It should also be noted that the page 409 does not provide amechanism for a user to add new Web sites to its list of accessiblesites (although the interface 304 may allow a user to activate a commandto delete a Web site from the list, as is know in the art). Instead, thepage 409 also includes a listing 410 for a Web site entitled “BookstoreDirectory.” To add a new site to the Bookstore 307 portion of the clientportal memory 303, the user must first access the “Bookstore Directory”Web site by activating the bookstore directory site listing 410, as willbe explained below. Thus, in order to access a new Web page whoseaddress was not originally stored in the client portal memory 303, theuser must obtain the address for the new Web page from the bookstoredirectory site.

[0045] When the user activates the bookstore directory site listing 410,the client portal 301 retrieves the content from the Bookstore Directorysite, and displays the retrieved content using the interface 305 asshown in FIG. 5. As seen in this figure, the interface 305 does notinclude any of the command buttons 404-407 of the first interface 304.Instead, the interface 305 has a navigation bar 501 with four navigationcommand buttons 502-505: the “back” command button 502, the “forward”command button 503, the “stop” command button 504 and the “refresh”command button 505. These command buttons and their functions are wellknown with respect to conventional browsers, and thus will not bedescribed in detail. The interface 305 also includes a first displayarea 506 for displaying the name of the retrieved content and a seconddisplay area 507 for displaying the retrieved content itself.

[0046] As also shown in FIG. 5, the content 508 of the BookstoreDirectory site may be interactive, i.e., it may accept commands from theuser in addition to simply displaying information. For example, thecontent 508 illustrated in FIG. 5 includes two listings 509 and 510 ofnew Web sites available to the client portal 301 (i.e., Web sites thatare not listed in the bookstore page 409, but which may still beaccessed through the client portal 301). Each listing includes the name511 for the Web site and an activation button 512. When the user wantsto add a link to or a URL for the listed Web site to the bookstore page409, the user selects the activation button 512 corresponding to thename 511 of the desired title. This causes the name and URL for the Website (and any other pertinent information) to be downloaded to theclient portal 301 and stored in the Bookstore portion 307 of the portalmemory 303 for future inclusion on the list 409 of sites accessible tothe client portal 301.

[0047] In this manner, a user unfamiliar with the operation of aconventional browser can easily add new sites accessible to the clientportal 301 of the invention. At the same time, the user can maintainsome control over the list 409 of sites accessible to the client portal301. For example, if the page 508 listing the available locations orsites includes fifty different vendors, the user may select only one ortwo of his or her favorite vendors for access through the client portal301. Thus, by giving the user control to limit the number of possiblevendors from page 508 to those selected for the list 409, the inventionallows the user to avoid being overwhelmed by a large number of possiblevendors on the page 508. Further, the distributor or publisher of theclient portal 301 can change or update the listing the locations orsites available for access by the client portal 301 at any time, withoutthe need to contact the client portal 301, simply by changing orupdating the content of page 508. Still further, the publisher ordistributor of the client portal 301 (or other authorized party) candetermine which network locations or sites are available for access bythe client portal 301. As will be discussed in detail below, thiscontrol of access provides a number of benefits for both the clientportal's user and its publisher or distributor (or other authorizedparty).

[0048] It should be noted that, with these embodiments of the invention,the user of the reader does not need to obtain content for the readerusing a separate application (e.g., a browser) and then integrate thecontent into the reader for viewing in a separate operation. Instead,content retrieved by the client portal 301 is seamlessly integrated intothe rendering portion of the eBook reader for display in the interface304 or the interface 305. That is, with these embodiments, the retrievedcontent is displayed in the interface 304 or the interface 305, andmanipulated using only the simplified set of commands provided in theseinterfaces rather than with the numerous commands that are provided in aconventional browser. Thus, if the retrieved content is the BookstoreDirectory site, the contents of this site are seamlessly displayed bythe reader in interface 305 similar to the display of an eBook ininterface 304. Likewise, if the retrieved content is, e.g., a catalog ofeBooks available to purchase from one of the sites listed on theBookstore Directory site, the catalog is displayed in the interface 305similar to the display of an eBook in interface 304.

[0049] Accordingly, with a client portal according to these embodimentsof the invention, a user does not need to obtain content from a browserin a first operation, and then transfer the content to the applicationthat will employ the content in a second, separate operation. Of course,this feature of the invention is not limited to the purchase and readingof eBooks. For example, other embodiments of the invention can be usedwith a media player application for playing back electronic media (e.g.,for audibly playing MP3 files, visually displaying JPEG files, etc.).With these embodiments, a user can employ the client portal 301according to the invention to list only Web sites that offer electronicmedia, and then to retrieve content from these sites directly into themedia player.

[0050] While the embodiment of the invention described aboveadvantageously employs the Bookstore Directory content 508 to listnetwork locations or sites available for access by the client portal301, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that otherembodiments of the invention can omit this feature. For example, otherembodiments of the invention may arrange for the Bookstore page 409 toautomatically include all of the sites or locations available for accessby the client portal 301, without allowing the user to select the sitesor locations appear on this page.

[0051] As previously noted, the specificity of the Web site accesspermitted to the client portal 301 provides a number of benefits to boththe portal user and to the publisher or distributor of the client portal301. For example, limiting access to particular sites allows the portal301 to be optimized for its particular task, such as retrieving andviewing eBooks. The party authorized to maintain the Bookstore DirectoryWeb site, e.g., the publisher or distributor of the client portal 301,or another authorized party such as a merchant affiliated with thepublisher or distributor of the client portal 301, can ensure that allof the new sites accessible through the bookstore directory offer eBooksfor downloading to the portal 301. Thus, if a merchant wants to beginselling goods or services compatible with the specific purpose of theclient portal 301 (e.g., eBooks), the authorized party can add thatmerchant's Web site to the list 508. Similarly, if a listed merchantdecides to no longer provide goods or services for the client portal301, the authorized party can delete that merchant's Web site from thelist 508. This relieves the user of the need to search for sitesoffering eBooks, or to maintain a list of favorite sites offeringeBooks.

[0052] Further, having the authorized party retain control over the useof the client portal 301 empowers the authorized party to maintain thequality and consistency of the sites accessible through the clientportal 301. It also allows the authorized party to collect informationon the user's preferences (i.e., the user's tastes in literature), inorder to assist the user in accessing other desirable content. Forexample, the publisher or distributor of the client portal 301 may beable to determine that a user favors books in a particular genre ofliterature, such as horror novels. The publisher or distributor can thenmake other content available for access through the client portal 301that may be of interest to that user, such as a catalog for purchasingGoth-style clothing or a catalog for purchasing horror movies on VHS orDVD. For example, if the user purchases a book on birds of NorthAmerica, the publisher or distributor can offer the user the opportunityto purchase a book on the flowers of North America. Similarly, if apublisher of a medical textbook can include a link within that contentthat provides an offer to the user to purchase a medical terminologydictionary. Thus, by retaining control of the content available foraccess by the client portal 301, the publisher or distributor of theclient portal 301 (or other authorized party) can effectivelycross-market merchandise from different vendors for the benefit of theuser.

[0053] Still further, permitting the publisher or distributor or otherauthorized party to retain control over the sites accessible through theclient portal 301 allows the publisher or distributor or otherauthorized party to remove accessible content from that the user doesnot regularly view. For example, if the client portal 301 is optimizedfor the purchase of clothing, it may initially be able to access contentincluding catalogs for the purchase of children's clothes. If the useris, e.g., a college student, however, he or she may not ever use theclient portal 301 to purchase children's clothes. When the publisher,distributor, or other authorized party determines that the user does notuse the client portal 301 to purchase children's clothes, it may thenremove the portal's access to the catalog for children's clothes, andprovide the portal 301 with access to a vendor's catalog forcollege-aged clothes instead.

[0054] Thus, the portal 301 distributor, publisher or other authorizedparty can manage the content access available to the client portal 301much like a landlord manages the tenants renting space from a shoppingmall. The distributor, publisher or other authorized party can limit theaccess of the client portal 301 to the purchase of a particular type ofitem (e.g., eBooks), or to making purchases from a particular group ofvendors (e.g., those vendors that have affiliated themselves with thedistributor, publisher or other authorized party). Further, with someembodiments of the invention, the distributor, publisher or otherauthorized party can tailor the “tenants” of the “mall” to match thebuying habits of the user.

[0055] Catalogs for Purchasing Items Using the Client Portal Accordingto the Invention

[0056] Returning now to FIG. 4, a user can access either of the sitesidentified in listing 411 and 412 to purchase goods or services with theclient portal 301 (in this example, to purchase eBooks). In someembodiments of the invention, the client portal 301 can display thecontent of these purchase sites using the interface 305. With otherembodiments of the invention, the client portal 301 may display thecontent of these purchase sites using an interface for a conventionalbrowser, such as the browser interface 201 shown in FIG. 2.

[0057] As previously discussed, because the client portal 301 accordingto the described embodiment of the invention may only access sitesselected by an authorized party, that authorized party may be able tocontrol the format of those accessible sites. This allows the authorizedparty to provide the user with consistent formatting, so that a userwill be able to easily navigate through any site accessed through theclient portal 301.

[0058] One preferred format for presenting content at the purchase sitesis electronic catalogs. For the purposes of this application, anelectronic catalog is a sequential listing of information for items,where the position of the information for each item bears somerelationship to the previously described item and the next sequentiallydescribed item. For example, as with conventional paper catalogs, anelectronic catalog is arranged into a series of sequential pages. Theitems described in the catalog are then arranged in some type ofspecific order, so that the catalog's merchant can tell a particular“story” about its product. For example, a book vendor may want user toview the current bestseller's first, and then view its seasonal books(e.g., horror books for Halloween) next. It may then want users to beable to view its entire library according to selected genre categories.Another book vendor, however, may users to view its sale items first,and then view the current bestsellers.

[0059] Because the electronic catalogs according to the inventionpresent the items for purchase in a sequential order designated by themerchant, both merchants can have a user sequentially view its productsin the order in which it desires. This arrangement is different fromconventional product disclosures, which list available products usingHTML pages. With these conventional HTML listings, a user jumps fromproduct to product in a random order. Of course, according to theelectronic catalogs of the invention, a user can view a particularproduct out of sequence by using a table of contents to skip ahead tothe particular page on which that product is described. In the normalcourse of leafing through the catalog, however, the user will view themerchant's products in the particular order desired by the merchant.

[0060] In addition to allowing a merchant to display its items to a userin a particular sequence, by arranging the available products intocatalogs, a user can also more easily navigate through the catalogs tolocate items the user desires to purchase. FIG. 6 shows a first page 601of one possible electronic catalog for selling eBooks. The catalog page601 may be an eBook page, an HTML page, or a page written in some othersuitable content rendering format. As seen in FIG. 6, the page 601 mayinclude the name or brand 602 of the merchant selling the eBooks (e.g.,the merchant maintaining the purchase site) and a list of a number links603 to other pages in the catalog. When the user identifies the page ofa subject of interest, the user then activates the link 603 for thatpage. This causes the client portal 301 to retrieve the page for thatparticular subject.

[0061] As can be seen from page 601, the contents of the catalog arearranged according to a particular order desired by the merchant. Inparticular, the first items listed in the catalog are the current week'sbestselling books, followed by horror books for Halloween sales. Themerchant's regular library of books are then displayed, starting withromance books on page 4 and ending with mystery books on page 18.Lastly, the sale books are listed on page 22. Accordingly, a user thatsequentially views the pages of the catalog will view the items offeredby the book merchant in the particular order desired by the merchant.Alternately, if the user sees a particular category of item he or shewants to view out of order, the user can activate the link 603associated with that category or subject to view it immediately.

[0062]FIG. 7 illustrates one example of another catalog content page 701(numbered as catalog page 12 on the content page 601 described above).As seen in this figure, content page 701 displays books in the AmericanLiterature genre. It includes an eBook listing 702 for each eBookavailable in the catalog 701. Each listing 702 may include the eBook'stitle 703, the eBook's author 704, the eBook's price 705, and a downloadcommand button 706 for instructing the client portal 301 to purchase anddownload the eBook for viewing. Each listing 702 may further include apreview command button 707 instructing the client portal 301 to downloada preview of the eBook (e.g., a free copy of the first chapter) and ahard copy command 708, instructing the client portal 301 to order apaper copy of the eBook from the merchant. The hard copy command 708 mayfurther advantageously instruct the client portal 301 to download someor all of the eBook for viewing in addition to ordering the hard copy,so that the user may begin reading the eBook immediately without havingto wait until the hard copy is delivered.

[0063] The listing 702 can also include a name 709 of the actualsupplier of the eBook if it is different from the merchant maintainingthe purchase Web site. While the merchant maintaining the purchase siteand catalog pages 601 and 701 may provide the cataloged eBooks fordownloading to the client portal 301, this is not necessary. Instead,the download command button 706 for an eBook may actually instruct theclient portal 301 to download the eBook (or a preview of the eBook forthe preview command button 707) from another location, such as a Website maintained by the actual publisher of the eBook or a Web sitemaintained by another merchant. Thus, a catalog 701 may include eBooksthat are actually retrieved from a number of different locations. Thisfeature allows the merchant maintaining the purchase Web site a greatdeal of flexibility in creating its catalog of available eBooks. Also,while the merchant maintaining the purchase Web site may include a name708 for the actual publisher of the eBook, the merchant may also choosenot to display this information to the user, so that it appears that allof the eBooks are provided directly by that merchant. This featureallows the merchant a great deal of flexibility in presenting its brandimage, either as a broker or as an original retailer. Further, apublisher of eBooks can maintain a purchase site for its publishedeBooks, but identify one or more merchants as sources for the eBooks tothe user.

[0064] The merchant maintaining the purchase site and catalogs 601 and701 may also tailor the catalogs 601 and/or 701 to the individual user.As previously noted, when the user activates a listing 411 or 412 for apurchase site, the client portal 301 sends out the URL for that siteover the Internet (or other network) to the computer server on whichthat site is maintained. The client portal 301 can include anidentifying header with that URL, so that the merchant maintaining thepurchase site can recognize that a particular user is requesting thecontent. This allows the merchant to collect information from the user,such as the user's preferences in eBooks, to prepare a profile of theuser's preferences and purchase habits. The merchant can use the user'sprofile to then tailor the content provided to the client portal 301when the user accesses the merchant's Web site.

[0065] For example, if a user's profile indicates that the usertypically purchases only biographical eBooks, science fiction eBooks andAmerican literature eBooks, then the merchant can provide the user witha genre catalog 601 including only these genres and an option to view anexpanded genre catalog 601. Alternately, the merchant may provide theuser with a detailed catalog 701 including popular eBooks in all threeof these genres. As previously noted, the distributor or publisher ofthe client portal 301 (or other authorized party charged withdetermining the access available to the client portal 301) can modifythe content offered to the user through the portal 301 based upon theuser's profile. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate thata wide variety of options are possible.

[0066] It should also be noted that the user's profile may includepurchase information for the user. For example, the profile may includecredit card information for a credit card account frequently employed bythe user to purchase goods or services through the client portal 301,the delivery method preferred by the user, the user's email and postaladdress, etc. The merchant can use this profile information to moreconveniently allow the user to purchase goods or services through theclient portal 301.

[0067] It should also be noted that, with some embodiments of theinvention, a user can employ the client portal 301 to purchase itemsfrom a merchant even when the client portal is not connected to thenetwork hosting the merchant's site. For example, when the client portal301 is connected to the network hosting the merchant's site, the portal301 can download an electronic catalog provided by the merchant into thememory 303. The user can then access the catalog offline from thenetwork (either directly through the Library 306 or through theBookstore 307), and make purchases from the catalog. The portal 301 willrecord the user's purchases until it reconnects to the network hostingthe merchant's site. The client portal 301 then conveys the purchase tothe merchant to complete the sales transaction.

[0068] Alternately, if the client portal 301 is for the purchase ofcontent, the portal 301 may allow the user to obtain the purchasedcontent while the portal 301 is disconnected from the network. Aspreviously noted, merchants that provide content for the client portal301 may keep track of a user's preferences. With this arrangement, amerchant can download content preferred by a user to the client portal301 in such a way that the user cannot access the content until the useractually purchases the content. For example, if a merchant has recordedthat the user is a frequent purchaser of Stephen King novels, themerchant can download the most recent Stephen King novel to the clientportal 301. The downloaded content may be invisible to the user, orencrypted with a key that is unavailable to the user. When the usermakes an offline request to purchase the content from the merchant'scatalog, the user can be allowed to retrieve the already-downloadedcontent or provided with the key needed to decrypt the content withouthaving to reconnect to the network. When the user does then subsequentlyreconnect to the network, the user's purchase of the content is thenconveyed to the merchant.

CONCLUSION

[0069] The present invention has been described above by way of specificexemplary embodiments, and the many features and advantages of thepresent invention are apparent from the written description. Thus, it isintended that the appended claims cover all such features and advantagesof the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, the specification is notintended to limit the invention to the exact construction and operationad illustrated and described. For example, the invention may include anyone or more elements from the apparatus and methods described herein inany combination or subcombination. Accordingly, there are any number ofalternative combinations for defining the invention, which incorporateone or more elements from the specification (including the drawings,claims, and summary of the invention) in any combinations orsubcombinations. Hence, all suitable modifications and equivalents maybe considered as falling within the scope of the appended claims

What is claimed is:
 1. An application that uses content to perform afunction, comprising: a client portal for retrieving content from anetwork, such that content retrieved by the client portal from thenetwork is seamlessly integrated into the application for use.
 2. Theapplication recited in claim 1, wherein the application provides aninterface for manipulating content retrieved from the network; and theclient portal retrieves content from the network directly into theinterface.
 3. The application recited in claim 1, wherein theapplication is a rendering application for displaying eBooks.
 4. Theapplication recited in claim 1, wherein the application is a mediaplayer for playing electronic media.
 5. The application recited claim 1,wherein the client portal is capable of retrieving content from onlypreselected sites in the network.
 6. A client portal for facilitatingthe purchase of a particular product, comprising: a browser capable ofretrieving content from only preselected sites that are related toproviding the particular product.
 7. The client portal recited in claim6, further including a memory for storing the preselected sites.
 8. Theclient portal recited in claim 6, wherein at least one of thepreselected sites lists other preselected sites.
 9. The client portalrecited in claim 6, wherein at least one of the preselected sites listssites that are available for preselection.
 10. The client portal recitedin claim 6, wherein, when the browser requests content from a site, thebrowser provides a header identifying characteristics of the browser.11. The client portal recited in claim 6, wherein at least one of thepreselected sites includes a catalog of items for purchase through theclient portal.
 12. The client portal recited in claim 11, wherein theclient portal further includes a memory, and the catalog is downloadedto the memory
 13. The client portal recited in claim 11, wherein thecatalog contains content from multiple content sources.
 14. The clientportal recited in claim 11, wherein the browser identifies a user of theclient portal; and the catalog contains a selection of items forpurchase based upon a previous purchase history of the user.
 15. The,client portal recited in claim 11, wherein the browser identifies a userof the client portal; and the catalog contains a selection of items forpurchase based upon a previous relationship between the user and acontent retailer.
 16. A catalog of content available to a user through aclient portal, comprising: a first electronic page including arepresentation of a first item available for purchase through the clientportal; a second electronic page including a representation of a seconditem available for purchase through the client portal; and a thirdelectronic page including a representation of a third item available forpurchase through the client portal, such that the first page, the secondpage and the third page are configured for display by the client portalin a sequential order.
 17. The catalog recited in claim 16, wherein thesecond page can be retrieved by the client portal only through a firstelectronic link contained in the first page and a second electronic linkcontained in a table of contents page for the catalog.
 18. The catalogrecited in claim 17, wherein the third page can be retrieved by theclient portal only through a third electronic link contained in thesecond page and a fourth electronic link contained in the table ofcontents page for the catalog.
 19. A method of purchasing productsthrough a client portal, comprising: connecting the client portal to anetwork; retrieving a vendor's catalog from the network into the clientportal during the client portal's connection to the network;disconnecting the client portal from the network; while the clientportal is disconnected from the network, selecting an item for purchasefrom the vendor's catalog; reconnecting the client portal to thenetwork; and during the reconnection of the client portal to thenetwork, sending a purchase request to the vendor for the item.
 20. Themethod of purchasing products recited in claim 19, wherein the vendor'scatalog includes a first electronic page including a representation of afirst item available for purchase through the client portal; a secondelectronic page including a representation of a second item availablefor purchase through the client portal; and a third electronic pageincluding a representation of a third item available for purchasethrough the client portal, such that the first page, the second page andthe third page are configured for display by the client portal in asequential order.
 21. The method of purchasing products recited in claim19, wherein the vendor's catalog is a catalog offering eBooks forpurchase through the client portal.
 22. A method of purchasing productsthrough a client portal, comprising: connecting the client portal to anetwork; retrieving from the network into the client portal during theclient portal's connection to the network both a vendor's catalog andcontent offered in the vendor's catalog; disconnecting the client portalfrom the network; while the client portal is disconnected from thenetwork, selecting content for purchase from the vendor's catalog, andmaking the selected content available for use through the client portal;reconnecting the client portal to the network; and during thereconnection of the client portal to the network, sending a purchaserequest to the vendor for the selected content.
 23. The method ofpurchasing products recited in claim 21, wherein the vendor's catalogincludes a first electronic page including a representation of a firstitem available for purchase through the client portal; a secondelectronic page including a representation of a second item availablefor purchase through the client portal; and a third electronic pageincluding a representation of a third item available for purchasethrough the client portal, such that the first page, the second page andthe third page are configured for display by the client portal in asequential order.
 24. The method of purchasing products recited in claim19, wherein the vendor's catalog is a catalog offering eBooks forpurchase through the client portal.